


Promotion

by InkTail



Series: Prompts and Short Fic [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Dad!Cor, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22780699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkTail/pseuds/InkTail
Summary: Cor accepts a new role in life
Relationships: Prompto Argentum & Cor Leonis
Series: Prompts and Short Fic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637755
Comments: 16
Kudos: 119





	Promotion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snailsman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snailsman/gifts).



> a prompt from my buddy Snails on discord, who requested for adoption/promotion to parent, "high schooler prompto &Cor. The new parent has to help him with his necessities & shoulder his burdens."
> 
> [Written for a bingo event on tumbles](https://inktail.tumblr.com/post/190696940695/haveievermentioned-hi-there-here-is-your-found)

It's later in the morning than he'd like when Cor finally sits down at his desk. He swore he'd use this free hour to deal with the accumulating paperwork in his inbox. It’s an intimidating show of neglect, because he didn’t accept this promotion out of a love for  _ paperwork _ . But it is inevitable… best to dive right in and start with a handful off the top. Requisition form. Leave request. Leave request. These he puts back on the pile for later. Bills and invoices go in a pile to be filed. There's a handwritten note from Drautos formally requesting scrimmage time between the guard and glaive. _ That man is allergic to email _ , he thinks, tucking the torn-out notebook page under his keyboard for later.

Requisition form. Audit report. Invoice.

It's all rather mundane, routine mail. The most interesting thing in the pile is the manila folder from that elementary school the guard visited last month, and it's not even for him. It spills out dozens of scribbles and thank you cards for "Ms Elshet" and her team. 

A timid knock on the door interrupts his scooping them all back into the bigger envelope. A quick glance at the clock says he's still got forty-five minutes until his next session. "Come in," he calls, setting the packet of cards aside. He'll get it to Monica's desk eventually.

There's a distinct hesitation between the handle clicking and the door opening. Cor sets his elbows on the desk's edge, folding his hands together under his chin.

A head of yellow hair appears, then a spindly shoulder. Argentum. He sidles in meekly, clutching a sheet of paper between his hands like a shield. The door swings shut behind him, eased gently into it's frame by the spring loaded arm thing maintenance installed a few years ago to stop it's constant slamming. 

"Mr. Argentum. What can I do for you?"

Prompto silently offers him the paper; he reaches over the desktop to take it. It turns out to be three sheets stapled together. Cor has to tilt his head back to read the print, which begins with a hearty  _ Dear parent.  _

He feels his eyebrow quirk is justified.

"I applied and got accepted into my school's, uh— well, Noct and I's school I mean, and, well, I got into the scholastic honors program? It's a really good opportunity to qualify for, like, scholarships and stuff after I graduate, but I can't get in without… without a parent's approval." He purses his lips and drops his eyes to the papers in Cors fingers. His voice is uncharacteristically subdued.

Indeed when Cor flips to the sheet at the back he finds a permission slip of sorts. The text block printed there is short and punctured with more blank spaces for names and dates than actual words.

“And so you came to me. You don’t want your parents to know what a bright kid they raised?” Cor sets the pages down on his desk to regard Prompto undistracted.

“Well, actually, sir. My parents are… busy. And they won't be… not busy… until after the deadline, so I was thinking," he pauses to bite his lip, "y'know, since you recommended I not join the guard just yet, maybe you wouldn't mind being my sponsor?” He’s squirming, tapping his heels and wringing his hands. But he holds eye contact. Cor must not be glaring as hard as he wants to be. 

What kind of parents are too busy to make sure their only kid has the support he needs to do his damndest in school? (His own, for starters.)

“Did Prince Noctis put you up to this?” Cor asks after a moment of thought, leaning back in his seat. He expects he knows the answer, because Prompto has already proven himself to be an honest and hard working kid. He’s overheard even Ignis expressing…  _ concerns _ — not complaining, Ignis would not be caught dead complaining in public— over how hard it is just to get The Prince's new friend to accept a ride home. 

“No way!” Prompto waves his hands in frantic little slicing motions to make his point. “Noct doesn’t know I'm doing this. I didn’t want him to like, pressure you into a decision, or something. I know he’d try.” He laughs then, a nervous chuckle. “He, uhm, actually said I could ask  _ his  _ dad, and I’m sure that's a pretty big honor and all, but no thanks. I could never, and how could the committee  _ not _ consider me with a mentorship from the actual King, y’know? It wouldn’t have been my effort that got me on the program with a vote like that.” 

“No, I imagine they wouldn’t." Cor picks the sheets up again, flipping to the second page. If the first page is only the program's introduction, there ought to be a regulations outline next. He catches himself squinting at the text and relaxes his eyes. Not even in private will Reggie have the satisfaction of being right about his eyesight.

He does NOT need reading glasses yet, he’s not that old yet. 

Discreetly Cor holds the papers further away to read. The page outlines what ‘his child’ has already accomplished to earn his spot on this program, and he’s clearly no slouch in his classes. It goes on to stipulate the items that need to be maintained and goals to complete by the end of the school year. GPA, community service, special projects, and short term goals stand out as options. It paints a busy picture for students and parents alike. 

"This is going to take some hard work. You're sure you're up for it?"

"I've already worked out what I need to get done, actually, so all I really need is your approval. You won't have to do anything but sign off on my monthly check in's, and I promise I'll stay out of your hair. I know how busy you get."

Something sharp and insistent lurches through Cor's heart at that. He's  _ never _ too busy for his men.

(When did he categorize Prompto away as one of  _ his men _ ?)

"What about the sponsor dinner? This," he drags a questing fingertip across the page to find what he saw moments ago, "'milestone meet and greet', and the parent-teacher open house? Those sound like a pretty big deal."

"Oh, I-I couldn't ask you to-"

"But you did ask, and I'm agreeing."

"...oh. You mean it? Well, you really don't— alright, cool. That's— thank you, sir. " 

"Bring me your game plan after school on Monday and we'll go over it together," Cor says as he scrawls his signature on the back page. "That work for you? I'll arrange for anything you need, and you come right to me with problems you can't work through on your own." He straightens the stapled packet and taps it's edge on his desk before offering it back to a slack-jawed Prompto. "Deal?"

He takes it as gingerly as sugar glass and breaks out in a radiant grin. 

"I won't let you down!"


End file.
